FyreFestival

Fyre Festival co-founder arrested, charged with fraud - UPDATED

UPDATE: Tuesday, Oct. 3, at 5:30 p.m. EDT

And the Fyre Festival saga continues as festival co-founder Billy McFarland has pled not guilty to two charges of wire fraud and making false statements to a bank.

The Los Angeles Times reported that McFarland “waived his right to be charged via an indictment brought by a grand jury” which “likely signals a plea deal is in the works.”

McFarland faces up to 20 years in prison.

ORIGINAL POST: Saturday, July 1, at 9:30 a.m. EDT

As if Fyre Festival hadn't already gone up in flames, so to speak, things are just getting worse for the festival's organizers.

In case you need a recap: Fyre Festival, a luxury music festival backed by rapper Ja Rule, was slated to be held on a secluded island in the Bahamas in late April. That all fell apart when festivalgoers ran into a slew of problems around travel, housing and food, leaving many attendees literally standing in the middle of nowhere with their suitcases.

Read more: Fyre Festival appeared to be a total sh*t show, Blink-182 cancel headlining set

Now, already in the wake of multiple other lawsuits, festival co-founder Billy McFarland has been arrested on counts of wire fraud, The New York Times reports.

According to a statement by Joon H. Kim, US attorney for the Southern District of New York, “McFarland allegedly presented fake documents to induce investors to put over a million dollars into his company and the fiasco called the Fyre Festival.”

The NYT writes that “at least two people invested about $1.2 million in the two companies… Mr. McFarland repeatedly overstated Fyre Media’s revenue from bookings and his own wealth.” A criminal complaint states that while McFarland claimed to have brought in multiple millions in bookings, the records actually show earnings of only $57,000.

McFarland faces up to 20 years in prison, but is likely to receive a lesser sentence, according to The New York Times

Watch more: APTV's Tori Kravitz on Festival Etiquette

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